Page 97 - MY STORY

It was very easy to feel nervous and a little frightened of

any meeting that might involve a confrontation with
Charlie. On the flip side, Charlie was unflinchingly loyal
to his reports, was very direct in any discussions, never

did anything less than give us his version of the
unvarnished truth, and had an unflinching desire to make
sure the Douglas Company was successful in any

business endeavor. I had learned to work with a wide
variety of folk during my time with TIMET which helped
me arrive at a methodology to work with Charlie.

The first, and most important, realization was that direct

and forceful communication was key to making this
relationship work for both of us. An example of this was
when Charlie was preparing a presentation to his
management in my subject area.

If he had any errors or misconceptions in his presentation

I found the best approach was to directly tell Charlie he
had it wrong and help him understand how to correct the
pitch. I underline understand because that was key to

establishing our good working relationship.